Couple of names that jumped out from last week’s non-tender list were Takashi Saito and Joey Gathright. Figured Saito might be a nice safety net for Matt Lindstrom and add some much needed bullpen experience. Gathright is a blazing fast outfielder who the Marlins have discussed in the past. He was a draft pick of the Tampa Rays while Marlins VP of Player Personnel Dan Jennings was overseeing the scouting department there.

As of this afternoon, the Marlins had not made inquires on either of them.

In Saito’s case, he’s two months shy of his 39th birthday and spent much of 2008 sidelined with an elbow injury. That could be enough for the Marlins to stay away. The last few seasons the Marlins have allocated about $2.5 million to a closer-type. They might not think Saito is worth it at this point, but if he’s willing to take an incentive-laden deal it might make sense. Saito already has drawn interest from several teams, so if the Marlins haven’t called by now they probably won’t.

The left-handed hitting Gathright, who turns 28 in April, could provide outfield depth and his speed would be a huge weapon off the bench. He’s not going to put a charge into many pitches (one homer in 1,145 career at-bats), but as recently as 2007 he posted a decent .371 on-base percentage in 74 games (228 at-bats) for the Royals. That figure took a serious plunge to .311 in 279 at-bats last season.

Comments (6 Comments)

Depending on the dollar figures…both could help this team and I’d be in favor of the move. If I had to choose one, I’d say Saito. I think Gathright will just end up taking ABs away from Cody Ross, and he’s the more valuable hitter in my opinion.

Take a pass on both. Gathright probably isn’t any better than whoever is going to be our 5th OF and hasn’t done much in his ML career. Saito coming off his elbow issue and having seen him out here in Dodgerland a few times, i would of rather kept Gregg.